HOW DO YOU GET A VILLAGE FORWARD?

The concept “helping others help themselves” that we carry out in the project villages in Southern Nepal, in the district of Chitwan, aims at the self-initiative and active involvement of villagers so that they can create a livelihood and eventually become independent from outside help. As in our other projects in Mugu, the project start was preceded by intensive investigations by our project managers. Evaluations were carried out in the various villages regarding the number of families and the size of the families living there. Comprehensive data on the economic and health situation as well as information on the living conditions were also collected. Based on the gathered information, we developed a project plan to create a child-friendly environment and improve the socio-economic situation of the villagers. Since they are either from the lowest castes or outcasts of Nepalese society, they live without exception in the most miserable conditions and face daily discrimination.

The most important goal for a long-term improvement of the living conditions is the improvement of the educational situation, especially of the girls. Since a workforce and source of income is lost, when families sent their child to school, we also promote the (economic) development of families and communities alongside the direct sponsorship of girls. The measures are specifically designed to enable families in the medium term to generate more income to provide for themselves and thus to enable their children to attend school. That is why our social workers work closely with the locals to develop ideas and solutions to improve their socio-economic situation, launch regular income security workshops, and initiate microcredit programs in the villages. Furthermore, we aim to improve the hygienic conditions as well as the health care. All measures are actively supported by the villagers, who organize the groups on their own.